Helllllloo Winter!

 With it's chilling breath, icy cold fingers and absolutely beautiful displays outside, winter has yet again made its annual appearance around here. Even after so many long months of winter in a year, I'm always reminded of its beauty all over again through the eyes and excitement of the little kids. This year was Donna's first to be able to go out and actually play in that pretty falling white stuff... and now we can't get her back in!

Whoops! Do you wanna go in now Donna??

...What do you think?

Maybe with enough help it can be fun to play outside for hours! 

Oh, and gotta report some loose screws in the 7yr old's head... no surprise there, but he was wearing appropriate fall clothing up until the white stuff appeared, now he's traded out his jacket, thermals, even pants (!!) for shorts and a Tshirt every day! Yup, when I say loose screws I mean really rattling around in there. He runs outside to check for eggs in his shorts. Freezin' reason, logic and even begging won't change his mind. I finally told him he's being stupid to which he responded, "Mary, I'm being a yooper, what's stupid about a yooper?" ...I think my long blank stare was probably nuff said.

As Andrew reported we got the roof on the barn just in time, but the shed over the root cellar was walled up as the snow blew 'round. Regardless, it was completed by the third snow day and we were able to house our bikes and tools in the nick of time.

Despite our late fall scrambling to finish the barn, all of the pre-winter chores were completed to my amazement and, I do have to credit some of it to my bossiness. :) With only a handful of days, we managed to harvest and process the end of the garden, weed and cover with wheel barrels of mulch 32 garden beds, clean up both barn and root cellar building project sites, as well as a whole homestead full of tools, buckets, tarps, scrap wood, toys, well you get the idea. :) We finished the morning of THE day it started snowing and I haven't seen the ground since. Wheew!

So now we're sitting inside panting and mopping our brows as we watch the snow flying past our windows outside. The smell of roasting turkey, the crackling of the fire, the sip of hot tea, the sounds of little voices playing happily with each other and the promise of a long cozy nap invite a body to settle down and relax. One of those moments where ya sigh deep and and let go of the breath you didn't realize you had been holding. :)

Okay winter, bring it!! :)

A very happy thanksgiving ya all!
Mary

p.s. Some people bemoan never seeing the sun in the winter and while that's true, I just wanted to letcha know that my plans for a nap may be bashed today due to the fact that it's blinding bright in the house right now! I'm oh so thankful that snow is white!